Tristis Lupinotuum
by Airship Alice
Summary: Lucius is bitten by a certain tawny werewolf during battle. How will he deal with this drastic change, what does the Order think of its new house guest, and what dark secrets is an old auror hiding?  Lucius/?  SLASH  Rating may go up.


A/N: Unbeta'd, sorry for any mistakes! I have yet to decide if the main pairing will be Sev/Lucius or Remus/Lucius. This was originally going to be a Remus/Lucius fic, but Snivillus wormed his way in without me noticing. If there's one you favor over the other please feel free to make your opinion known. Any ideas/things you want incorporated into the story would also be nice to hear as well. ^-^

* * *

The moon shone bright and full overhead and the ghastly mark of He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named glowed eerily in its light. Lucius couldn't help the feral smile that pulled across his lips. Nothing like a good blood bath to make a person feel alive. They had brought the wolves with them tonight, so a bloodbath it would assuredly be.

He didn't particularly enjoy working with the beasts, but for the sake of a sure victory it was worth it. The Oder had been more of a problem lately and any opportunity to kill more of them was an opportunity worth seizing.

Tonight's trap had been well laid, and the Dark Lord was looking forward to striking a crippling blow to the Order. They had captured a group of mud-bloods and muggles and made certain that this news reached the ears of the Order. What they wouldn't know was that in the woods that lined the area a large pack of werewolves, headed by Fenrir Greyback, were waiting to attack.

The death eaters stood around their captives, casually torturing them and biding the time as they waited for the Light to arrive. Lucius found it ridiculous that they had been grouped as such by the public. Whether they admitted it or not there were Order members just as 'dark' as some of the death eaters, his short stay in Azkaban had shown him that if nothing else.

On that note; he was both excited and frightened of finding one Alastor Moody once that battle was underway. He desperately wanted retribution for what the man had put him through, but he knew the auror was good at his job and could conceivably turn the tables on him.

Lucius was drawn from his thoughts by the shouts of his fellow death eaters heralding the arrival of the Order. He had his wand drawn in an instant and was rapidly firing off unforgiveables at the advancing forces who retaliated with less vicious spells. A cutting hex clipped him as he fought and he let out a hiss of pain as it sliced into his side. He was able to pin-point the caster with surprising speed, and any emotion he felt when he locked eyes with the grizzled auror was quickly hidden. Moody however was grinning like a fiend and Lucius found himself having second thoughts about confronting the man.

The decision was taken out of his hands as a howl sounded. It was rapidly taken up by others until the whole pack must have been howling. The wolves descended on the battle with an unprecedented speed and viciousness that soon had the Order retreating. Moody cast another quick hex in Lucius' direction before hurrying off to join the rest of the Order in fighting off wolves.

As Lucius watched the man go with slight relief, his eyes fell upon two wolves in a fearsome quarrel. That was odd. The wolves never attacked each other as far as he knew. He moved to get a closer look and it quickly became apparent why the two beasts were clawing at each other. While one was branded with the dark mark upon a foreleg, the other lacked such ornamentation; the only marks it bore were scars.

As Lucius scrutinized the unmarked tawny wolf further he felt a familiarity. When it finally clicked he felt the fool for not realizing it earlier. It was Remus Lupin. There was no one else is _could_ be. Currently he was besting the red wolf he fought against.

Lucius let out a sigh deciding it would be pertinent to help the losing wolf. He hit the tawny with a Crucio which incapacitated it momentarily, giving the red wolf time to flee. Of course as soon as he got his feet under him again the wolf let out a snarl of rage and charged Lucius.

As the creature knocked him to the forest floor Lucius decided that this was, perhaps, not the smartest thing he'd ever done. Of course the other wolf was nowhere to be seen, so Lucius wouldn't be getting any help _there_. He tried to get out from under the beast but the weight was too much; and then the wolf was snapping at him and all his attention was on gleaming fangs. He tried desperately to jerk away but the ground was firm and unyielding beneath him. He had lost his wand when the wolf had leapt on him and now in a last attempt to save his skin he grabbed hold of the snapping jaws. He struggled to keep them from closing or getting any closer to his throat.

A stray spell foiled his efforts. It struck them both and for a moment both man and wolf were dazed. They came to their senses quickly however and the wolf took the chance to finally bite down on its squirming prey.

Lucius screamed as fangs tore into his shoulder. This was it. He was going to die. What a piss-poor way to go. He'd always expected that he would either be caught, convicted, and given the Kiss (not death exactly, but close enough), or that he would live out his days rich and more-or-less content. Being killed by a werewolf had never seemed a likely option. As the wolf jerked its head from side to side, like a terrier with a rat, Lucius felt slightly detached. Yes, it still hurt, but from some faraway place that he could ignore. He vaguely noted that this was likely a bad sign.

And then with no warning the wolf was off of him and sprinting away towards the Order members, still locked in battle with Greyback's pack and the death eaters. Lucius let out a harsh, shaking breath as the pain began to slowly crawl back into his mind. He was shaking, shock likely, not every day you almost die a visceral death. As his addled mind tried to piece together why the wolf took off a familiar form appeared at his side.

After distracting Remus from his catch and herding him back towards the main battle Severus hurried over to the prone blond lying unmoved, but shaking slightly, on the ground. He kneeled next to his long-time friend and began to assess the damage the wolf had done. Nothing too serious, the bleeding was cause for concern but a quick spell had it slowed enough to not be an issue. The wound would be easy to heal, though it would likely scar badly, werewolf bites typically did. Of course then there was the problem of what the wounds meant.

Severus wasn't completely certain how his friend would react to the news that he was no longer technically human. Badly, he guessed. The potions master let out a heavy sigh and began doing what he could for the man while they were still in the midst of a battle. The blond passed out at while he was patching him up and Severus was rather at a loss for what to do with him. He couldn't leave him here; for all that he and Lucius fought, they were still good friends, and leaving him in the current situation would almost certainly end with the man's death or incarceration.

Severus pinched the bridge of his nose as he tried to think of a quick solution. He could see the Order retreating, chased by ravenous wolves; the battle would soon be over but somehow he didn't think leaving Lucius with his fellow death eaters would be the wisest choice. Ever since the Department of Mysteries disaster the Dark Lord seemed to care just a bit less about what happened to a certain member of his inner circle.

Severus cast another glance toward the retreating Order and let out another sigh. Dumbledore would likely be accepting, but the rest of the Order certainly wouldn't. He was having trouble coming up with any plans that sounded better though. He placed his wand lightly against Lucius and cast a charm that would force him into his animagus form. Severus quickly scooped up the little white-gold fox and, careful to avoid the wolves, hurried off to join the retreating Order.

As they began to disapperate away Severus noticed that the evening hadn't been a complete loss. It seemed that they had managed to save most of the people the death eaters had taken captive, and with relatively few losses.

As he ran, trying to attain the focus needed to apparate, he noticed Dumbledore watching him. The man had a knowing look in his eyes as he glanced at the fox held carefully in Severus' arms. He gave the potions master a small nod before disapparating back to the Order headquarters. Severus followed soon after, the short jarring trip filled with a flurry of thoughts as to how he would explain this to the rest of the Order. Granted, in the end the only person whose opinion _really_ mattered was Albus', but he knew suggesting they keep a known death eater at their headquarters wouldn't go over well with the rest of the Order. If the look Dumbledore had given him meant anything then he assumed he would at least have _his _support. The man had a tendency to trust that there was good in everyone, Lucius Malfoy included it seemed.

Once he had arrived, along with everyone else, there just didn't seem to be the _time_ to explain that he had brought a wounded death eater with him. Many Order members needed healing, the ministry needed to be brought up to date, as well as the usual post-battle meeting. Severus decided that this was likely in his favor and quickly darted off to secret the fox away in the room he used when staying at the headquarters. Time enough to tell them once things had settled. Besides, they might be more accommodating once the rush of battle wore off.

As everyone was exhausted, and many needed to return to their own homes, the meeting was mercifully short. Dumbledore praised everyone on their bravery and courage and told them that Tonks and Kingsley had managed to get all of the captives to St. Mungos, and that all would live. The Order members dispersed quickly after the meeting, some going up to old rooms, others going home. Severus decided that his little bit of news could wait until they were all fresh and less likely to keel over at any moment, and made his way upstairs behind Tonks, Molly, and the Weasley twins. No harm in waiting a bit longer, right?

When he entered the room he had claimed as his own he was glad to see that the fox lay right where he had left it on the bed, curled up in a quickly improvised nest of blankets. He still wasn't certain what to do about the situation. Part of him wanted to wake Lucius and tell him _now_, to get it over with, but knowing Lucius there would likely be a good bit of shouting. He didn't want to alert the Order to the presence of their uninvited guest any sooner than he had to.

The bed springs creaked as he sank down on the old mattress. He had so many troubles to worry him these days, he didn't need the added stress of looking after Lucius as well. He ran a hand over the silky pale gold fur that covered the animagi, and felt marginally calmer. He remembered reading somewhere that petting a cat could reduce stress and anxiety; a fox was close enough. As he laid back on the bed he carefully pulled the small fox onto his chest before going back to lightly petting it. He smiled as an old school memory bubbled to the surface of his mind.

_He_ had been stressing over OWLs and Lucius had been stressing over NEWTs. They both had decided to spend the evening studying, but by nine it seemed to Severus that none of the information was making sense anymore. Lucius it seemed felt the same, and they soon found themselves in the astronomy tower for a smoke break. After Lucius had finished with his fag he'd taken a quick glance around before asking quietly, "Do you have an animgus form?"

Severus had shaken his head. "You really should work on that. It's terribly relaxing," Lucius said with an easy smile, before leaping into his animal form.

The dark haired boy couldn't help but grin. Lucius didn't often use his animagus form, being unregistered made him a bit nervous about it, but on the rare occasions he did it was like having an affectionate house-cat around. The fox rubbed up against Severus' legs and he sat down to be more on level with it. The fox quickly made itself at home in his lap and Severus finally felt himself relaxing as he ran a hand over the soft almost white fur. "Thanks," he said scratching the little canine behind it's ears. Lucius had nuzzled his palm before curling up into little ball, tail resting over his nose.

He had ended up falling asleep there, only waking when a light rain began to fall.

The scenario now was vastly different. They were different people now. Still, the potions master felt the pull of Morpheus drawing him down, much as it had then. As the tides of sleep pulled him under, he hoped that this mess would be as easily solved as his OWLs had been. He doubted it though.


End file.
